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THE
ROVING EYE
Suicide at the walls of
Baghdad
By Pepe Escobar
AMMAN - In more ways than one, we're back to the
Middle Ages. In Medieval wars, the desert was an
abandoned battlefield and the cities were fortified
castles (like today's Basra and Baghdad). Even if the
3rd Infantry Division and the 5th Corps secure the
symbols of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Iraqi guerrilla
war - or the Palestinization of Iraq - will not fade
away, with the civilian population taken as hostage.
This presents the resistance with a stark problem: how,
and for how long, can you stop Abrams M1A1 tanks and
Bradley fighting vehicles armed with only Kalashnikovs
and small rocket launchers?
It was just an
"armored raid" - according to the Pentagon. Under an
incredibly thick haze, a mix of dark clouds from
oilfield trenches, sandstorm after-effects and smoke
from battles, 70 American tanks and 40 armored vehicles
have ripped through the heart of western Baghdad,
reaching the west bank of the Tigris. Smoke was
everywhere, the sound of ground fire everywhere. On the
ground, Iraqi-side, there was visibly no effective
structure, no command and control.
The scenario
fits the American battle plan: to slice Baghdad into
small pockets and then take them one by one. The eastern
banks of the Tigris are still firmly in the regime's
hands. But the marines could spring up from the
southeast at any moment. On a clock, Baghdad is
encircled from five o'clock to twelve. The non-encircled
twelve-to-five accounts basically for the northeast -
where Saddam City, the huge Shi'ite suburb, lies: the
Americans still hope an uprising in Saddam City will be
the coup de grace against Saddam's regime.
At
the crucial hours when the American task force was
carrying its mission "to remove whatever vestiges of
government are still left" - according to Central
Command in Qatar - Mohamed Saeed al-Sahaf, the gutsy,
flamboyant Iraqi information minister, member of the
cabinet and privileged target of said mission strolled
to the roof of the Palestine Hotel, near Tahir square,
where many Western and Asian cameras are positioned, his
guns blazing, to deliver in Arabic what may rank as the
most startling monologue of the whole war.
While
American tanks were parked roughly a kilometer away from
the minister between the imposing memorial crossed
swords of the national parade ground - where a giant
statue of Saddam Hussein was duly bulldozed - Sahaf said
that there were "no American columns in the city of
Baghdad". He said that the Americans were surrounded. He
said that the nonexistent columns were "slaughtered".
"They are beginning to commit suicide at the walls of
Baghdad." He smiled as he was saying, "We fed them
hell." Over the sound of distant gunfire, he broke into
a grin when he said, "Those invaders, their tombs will
be here in Iraq."
American soldiers, meanwhile,
were saying that "today is the symbol of victory". They
said that they were in the al-Rashid hotel - where in
the entrance lies a marble portrait of George Bush
senior, so patrons can step on him on their way in or
out. The marines said that they were in the information
and foreign ministries - but, as was later discovered,
had not taken over the buildings, still defended by the
Republican Guards.
Both sides of the war, on
both sides of the Tigris, will fatefully meet sooner or
later. Iraqi resistance may be blocking the bridges over
the Tigris - and American tanks already cannot cross two
damaged bridges into southeast Baghdad. But how long can
the resistance go? Echoes from Baghdad tell of a ghost
town since Sunday. Iraqi exiles confirm the fears of the
civilian population of house-to-house fighting. There
are no phones, no water and no electricity. Families
don't seem to know what to do except to stay home.
This may finally be the endgame. American
soldiers are raiding the heart of Baghdad. The British
are in almost full control of Basra. Chemical Ali - the
man who ordered the gassing of Kurds in Halabja - is
allegedly dead. Mosul is being severely bombed. What are
Saddam's options in trying to prolong a military battle
that the whole planet knows he has already lost?
Saddam the pedestrian, his stunning,
unprecedented walkabout on Saturday in the streets of
Baghdad may have been a smashing coup in the propaganda
war - but this does not mean that the regime is in
control. Saddam is calling his seemingly invisible
troops to organize attacks any time, anywhere, to defend
Baghdad. Anybody in any circumstances should join the
closest military unit - not necessarily his own
regiment. These are significant signs that there seems
to be no coordination whatsoever.
But after his
stroll on Saturday, Saddam will be back in a bunker for
good, and one may be certain that he still expects to
find a way out. His implacable indifference to civilian
suffering is legendary. He is counting on more and more
"collateral damage". Humanitarian agencies are desperate
- warning of an impending disaster in Baghdad.
Saddam may never be found. The fighting spirit
of the roughly 500,000 Iraqis who form the elite of the
regime and depend on its survival remains. Saddam may
opt to deliver audio rallying cries, reminiscent of
calls by Osama bin Laden, from the Iraqi ether. He can
try to manipulate world public opinion against Iraqi
civilian casualties. He is likely thinking that the
Americans can raid Baghdad at will. He knows that his
victory would be not to capitulate. And he hopes that as
far as Arab popular opinion - and most of the world's
1.3 billion Muslims - is concerned, he has already won.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights
reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
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